Quotes of the day

posted at 8:31 pm on December 21, 2012 by Allahpundit

Things were so bad for Speaker John Boehner Thursday night, support for his Plan B tax bill so diminished, the limits of his power with his own party laid bare, that he stood in front of the House Republican Conference and recited the Serenity Prayer.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Several senior GOP aides said that many of the Republicans were wary of voting for Plan B because they worried it would lead to a primary challenge…

Shortly after 7 p.m., GOP leaders abruptly adjourned the chamber and called an emergency meeting in the same Capitol basement room that they had huddled in Tuesday morning. It lasted less than 10 minutes, as leaders announced they did not have the votes and that the House would not return until after Christmas.

Kelly, who finally came around to supporting the plan, was incredulous, according to Republicans in the room. As others headed for the door, Kelly raced to the front of the room and grabbed the microphone.

The vote on Plan B was perhaps the most consequential test of Boehner’s leadership since he took control of the House early last year. Persuading a majority of Republicans to cast a politically treacherous vote to allow higher taxes could have enhanced his leverage with Obama in future talks to rein in the national debt, Republicans said. But failure could imperil his hold on power, said Craig Shirley, a Republican consultant who wrote a biography of former president Ronald Reagan.

“If this was a parliamentary system, tonight’s dissent on Plan B would be seen as a vote of no confidence in Boehner,” Shirley said. “The national GOP is now simply a collection of warring tribal factions.”

***

Speaker John Boehner’s failure to move his “Plan B” tax bill through the House was “an embarrassment,” Obama chief political strategist David Axelrod said Friday.

“They went from ‘Plan B’ to ‘Plan see you later,’ ” Axelrod quipped during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

***

2) If part of what President Obama was after was Republican humiliation and disarray, it’s going better than even he could have hoped.

3) It’s possible to envision a scenario where, in theory, going over the cliff enhances GOP leverage. But the emphasis is on in theory. As soon as we go over the cliff, Senate Republicans will almost certainly start peeling off and House Republicans will be even more isolated. Then, they will likely see defections in their own ranks, too, and buckle in a pell-mell retreat.

4) Boehner is in an intolerable position. Either he has the confidence of his conference or he doesn’t. It was a risk to announce Plan B before he knew he had the votes. But if his members don’t have his back in such a high-stakes situation, well then, something eventually has to give.

***

Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, R-Ohio, said Boehner told him that he would call Obama to see about the way forward. But it is clear that his negotiating leverage is tarnished and Republicans may inevitably have to swallow a fiscal cliff deal that heavily skews toward the president’s demands.

Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), all stripped of prized committee assignments earlier this month because of perceived sins against the party, did a three-amigos end zone dance as GOP leaders struggled and failed to get the votes for a tax-cut bill designed to empower Speaker John Boehner in negotiating the so-called fiscal cliff…

The three freshmen didn’t cost Boehner his “Plan B” bill. But his sanctions didn’t work, and that could serve as a yellow light to other hell-no conservatives that they can flout leadership and not worry too much about the consequences…

“Speaker Boehner said today’s bill would pass. His credibility as a leader has evaporated,” declared Ron Meyer a spokesman for American Majority Action, a Virginia-based group, which has trained thousands of conservative activists and says it predates the tea party movement…

“Conservatives won a huge battle tonight. Speaker Boehner can’t get away with his reckless political ploys anymore at the expense of our principles,” said Meyer. “His speakership is on the ropes, and the harder he pushes, the less likely he’ll be speaker come January.”

“This is a point where his speakership’s on the line,” the member said regarding Boehner. “It’s a big vote and we want to be able to deliver for our speaker.”

At the same time, the member said the names of those who vote against the measure are being noted, an ominous sign after leaders recently pulled four GOP members from their plum committee assignments, apparently in retribution for not hewing the party line.

It now appears about 25 percent of Americans will hold Obama and the Democrats responsible, and only about 65 percent of will blame Republicans (with good odds that the other 10 percent will follow suit).

This is the reality with which Boehner must deal. The Republican Party’s reputation isn’t good; the reputation of Congress is even worse. Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating is up to 56 percent in Gallup, his highest level since 2009…

The speaker’s doing what little he can with what little he has. Those conservatives who attack him for a sincere effort to manage an unavoidable defeat, or who are trying to raise money by using Boehner as a foil, are making an implicit case for their own marginalization.

***

What happens now is anyone’s guess. Boehner said last night, and will reportedly say again at a 10:00 am press conference this morning, that it is up to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pass their own fiscal cliff solution. The Boehner-Obama negotiations appear to be over. There will be no grand bargain.

The more likely scenarios are that we either go over the fiscal cliff, or Boehner agrees to vote on a Senate bill which extends the current tax rates for everyone making under $250,000. Either way, by choosing to abandon their leader in the middle of high stakes negotiations, House conservatives have assured that whatever final deal does get done, whether its before or after January 1st, it will have to be passed with a majority of Democratic votes. By refusing to compromise at all, House conservatives have completely marginalized themselves, making them effectively irrelevant, not just for the fiscal cliff negotiations, but for at least the next two years as well.

***

Let’s say, then, that Boehner does go ahead and cut a deal with Obama, which in all likelyhood would be worse than the “Plan B” option that failed tonight. Would there be a major revolt among House Republicans that would topple him as speaker? Perhaps. But maybe not. People have been too willing to assume that the defeat of “Plan B” is a rejection of Boehner as a leader. But these are two separate things. Speaking to members today, the sense I got was that rank and file Republicans understand the difficult position Boehner has been put in, with the tax cuts expiring automatically, Obama as president and Democrats in control of the Senate. So, many conservatives may have felt they needed to oppose “Plan B” so they didn’t get their hands dirty voting for what they saw as a tax increase (or perhaps they just feared how it would play in a potential primary challenge). But, these same members could still give a pass to Boehner, recognizing that he’s in a tough spot. Just as long as they get to keep their own hands clean and campaign as true conservatives who stood up to Obama.

***

The Obama White House also seems to have two options: Do they try and save Boehner, or do they try to break the Republican Party. We saw mixed reactions coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The statement from Press Secretary Jay Carney was conciliatory. “The President will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.” But on the other hand, the reaction on Twitter was a bit of gloating. If the White House wants a big deal — and we think they do — then saving Boehner could seem to be the safer approach. That said, there will always be the question whether the White House feels Boehner could deliver ANY votes for the. But also don’t lose sight of Mitch McConnell. Even though he has strained relations with the White House, could he be a stronger partner on the fiscal cliff and immigration reform than Boehner? That’s something to chew on. The White House also has to restrain parts of its base — there is blood in the water, and there are parts of the base who want to go for the kill. The president wakes up today with more leverage than he’s ever had, but he has to be careful how he uses that leverage…

Here’s a final point we want to make about last night, and it’s a point our colleague John Harwood made on Twitter: For a defeated party, things usually get worse before they get better. In fact, it’s more than likely that last night won’t be rock bottom for the GOP after its losses in November. As Harwood noted, “Political parties with losing hands don’t change until they’ve absorbed lots of punishment. See Dems, 1968-88. GOP not done yet.”

He had one objective. He came off a winning election, but he still had a recalcitrant House. He wants four years where he can have his own agenda that he can enact. He would be stopped by the House the same way the House stopped it in the last two years. What to do? To destroy the Republicans, to fracture them and to create a civil war in the House, which he has done. And how do you do it? By insisting, as he did, this is extremely clever, tactically on his part. Insisting that the one thing that they had to agree to was an increase on tax rates.

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So I would have to punch Grendel in his ear and make him shrink. The BMore could slam his arm in the door.

SparkPlug on December 22, 2012 at 1:41 AM

I’ve been here all night! You’d know that if you were really here earlier before you weren’t here anymore.

Anyway. I was in the engine room. The engineer called up and said, “There’s something down here,” and then the line went dead, so I had to go check it out. I couldn’t find him. He’s probably just messing with me.

New York’s alright, New York’s alright
New York’s alright if you like saxophones
New York’s alright if you wanna get pushed in front of the subway
New York’s alright if you like tuberculosis
New York’s alright if you like art and jazz
New York’s alright if you’re a homosexual
New york’s alright, New York’s alright
New York’s alright if you like saxophones
New York’s alright if you like drunks in your doorway
New York’s alright if you wanna freeze to death
New York’s alright if you wanna get mugged or murdered
New York’s alright if you like saxophones
New York’s alright, New York’s alright
New York’s alright if you like saxophones

The Rudolph nose cam project had good intentions. We were hoping to get a panaroam view of the US as Santa flew overhead. But it turns out all we got was a bunch of close ups of reindeer anatomy. Turns out Rudolph spends most of his time sniffing Donner and Vixen.

Persuading a majority of Republicans to cast a politically treacherous vote to allow higher taxes could have enhanced his leverage with Obama in future talks to rein in the national debt, Republicans said. But failure could imperil his hold on power

there is blood in the water, and there are parts of the base who want to go for the kill. The president wakes up today with more leverage than he’s ever had, but he has to be careful how he uses that leverage…

That’s only true if Boehner stays. If Boehner stays then the GOP becomes a wing of the Democrat Party, and if he is replaced then Obama no longer has any leverage at all other than the sequestration. Republicans can say, look, we want to cut spending, here are the spending cuts we recommend, if the Democrats want to negotiate we’re ready to deal. If we can’t improve on the sequestration then the sequestration is the best we could do to right the sinking ship.

Raising taxes in a depression, on the other hand, is a huge mistake. If the Democrats want to go down that path again, if it’s such a beneficial thing to do then why do they insist that Republican break their oaths and give their stamp of approval? If raising taxes during the Bush/Obama depression is such a wonderful thing then why don’t Democrats try their best to hog all the credit for themselves rather than just the opposite?

If Democrats really want to raise taxes then they need to sweeten the pot for Republicans. I, for one, would accept a tax increase if it is accomplished by replacing the income tax with a national sales tax like the fair-tax. That is the best taxing system because it works, it is relatively hard for cronies to corrupt and use for anti-competitive practices. If Democrats want to raise taxes so bad, and want Republicans to sign on, they should have to give Republicans something to sign on to.

It now appears about 25 percent of Americans will hold Obama and the Democrats responsible, and only about 65 percent of will blame Republicans (with good odds that the other 10 percent will follow suit).

This is the biggest problem that RINO’s have.

They actually believe BS like this.

The people voted in 2010 and the Tea Party won big time and gave John his speakership. The thanks from John after they kept him Speaker in 2012 he throws them out of their committees.

Furthermore instead of investigating the IRS for auditing all the Tea Party groups and forcing most out of existence he joins Obama’s war against them.

John does not represent the GOP in any meaningful way. If the people could vote he would be their last choice. The people voted against everything John fights tooth and nail for. The people voted for limited government and low taxes. John is the polar opposite of what they voted for. So was Mitt which is why he lost.

It now appears about 25 percent of Americans will hold Obama and the Democrats responsible, and only about 65 percent of will blame Republicans (with good odds that the other 10 percent will follow suit).

I suppose I should clarify a bit.

The people will blame John for this failure. But he is in fact the problem. The people gave John the Speakership to stop Obama. To refuse to give Obama the money to implement Obama Care and the rest of his radical agenda. Instead John gave Obama everything Obama wanted. Every increase in the debt limit. New laws allowing Obama to implement the police state more fully. The people hate John more than Obama because he betrayed them after they game him his job.

The lie in this statement is that it does not say why Americans blame Republicans. They blame Republicans because they will not stand up for what they supposedly believe in.

I say we defend our principles and I think people are foolish to think the American public will not turn like RATS on Obama and the rest who won’t let THEM have a tax break without taxing the rich SLIGHTLY more…….

Notice how Obama and the Dems are now scrambling to get a deal in place before the New Year? Heck, Obama is even calling for a smaller deal… I guess they realize Boehner might not survive as Speaker and they want a deal in place before conservatives take over the House.

mnjg on December 22, 2012 at 12:25 AM

well the best part of that is the 113th Congress is under no obligation to honor any agreement made with the 112th. Which is incidentally why none of these ‘gladly cut spending over 10yrs to have a trillion dollar cheeseburger today’ deals never pan out.
Part of our Checks and Balances. Part of the genius of those old white slaver-capitalists, who were smart enough to say ‘arms’ instead of ‘muskets’, knowing the evil and tyranny that dwells in Man’s heart, after having just spent ~30yrs shaking it off.

Exactly, if we do not fix this financial mess very soon, there isn’t going to be a middle class for anyone to be the champions of. The RINO’s apparently do not believe that the fiscal cliff is really very significant, to them this is obviously all just Kabuki Theater to allow the political parties to jockey for power.

SWalker on December 22, 2012 at 12:39 AM

Northeastern RINO-Progressives are ‘old’ money, the best schools for connection-making and partying. If they work at all, it’s for 6-figure+ salaries for makework jobs. Scraping by month to month is alien, gauche. Nekulturny. The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ IS political theatre. It’s OUR lives and our families’ prosperity, but none of them give a shit about that. Except every two years on the campaign trail.
IF they really cared, they wouldn’t have punted 18mos ago and waited until a few weeks before their contrived deadline to start flapping their gums about it – and THEN take off for Christmas.

Exactly, if we do not fix this financial mess very soon, there isn’t going to be a middle class for anyone to be the champions of. The RINO’s apparently do not believe that the fiscal cliff is really very significant, to them this is obviously all just Kabuki Theater to allow the political parties to jockey for power.

SWalker on December 22, 2012 at 12:39 AM

Northeastern RINO-Progressives are ‘old’ money, the best schools for connection-making and partying. If they work at all, it’s for 6-figure+ salaries for makework jobs. Scraping by month to month is alien, gauche. Nekulturny. The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ IS political theatre. It’s OUR lives and our families’ prosperity, but none of them give a shit about that. Except every two years on the campaign trail.
IF they really cared, they wouldn’t have punted 18mos ago and waited until a few weeks before their contrived deadline to start flapping their gums about it – and THEN take off for Christmas.

rayra on December 22, 2012 at 6:38 AM

Amen rayra-preach it.

btw..what is considered middle class anymore?
Those not on welfare yet and Govt dependent?
The MC has already taken most off the body blows last 4 years..and devastated-
We will continue to be the lefts punching bag if the games persist
and nothing is done to fix the insanity.

The people will blame John for this failure. But he is in fact the problem. The people gave John the Speakership to stop Obama. To refuse to give Obama the money to implement Obama Care and the rest of his radical agenda. …

Steveangell on December 22, 2012 at 5:55 AM

This is so completely wrong. Boehner has absolutely no power with which to stop the implementation of Obamacare. “Shutting down the government” would not do it. When we hit the debt ceiling the Executive (that is Obama) then decides which of the things Congress has previously authorized to spend the money on gets the money.

The very last thing Obama would cut would be Obamacare. It is done, Steve. We lost. Obamacare is now a permanent part of the federal bureaucracy. The People decided, even if they are much too stupid to realize what it was they decided.

Read Novack’s Forbes’ article for more detail, but the speaker’s Plan B managed to increase taxes for not just the rich (as defined by the million-dollar threshold), but for many middle and upper middle income earners, too. So, the speaker’s Plan B was a double-whammy: raising taxes (including capital gains) on high-earning investors and sticking it to less affluent earners, including those among the middle class. Talk about Boehner and the House GOP swapping basic conservative principle for the jobs of good stewards of Mr. Obama’s big government.

The very last thing Obama would cut would be Obamacare. It is done, Steve. We lost. Obamacare is now a permanent part of the federal bureaucracy. The People decided, even if they are much too stupid to realize what it was they decided.

fadetogray on December 22, 2012 at 9:13 AM

BS

Congress allocates all the money.

Yes to beat Obama you have to shut down the Government and take this Ace away from him. You just do it and say either you do away with Obama Care or we allocate you no money.

Yes to beat Obama you have to shut down the Government and take this Ace away from him. You just do it and say either you do away with Obama Care or we allocate you no money.

Congress has already “allocated” Obama (authorized him to use) all the money he needs to do the things he actually wants to do, including Obamacare. If Congress doesn’t authorize anything further, then even if he has to totally gut the military to do it, he will.

We have no cards. None. 11/6 was an unmitigated disaster far worse for American than 9/11 was. If Obama actually cared what happens to America, then we would at least have that much leverage, but the reality is that we don’t even have that.

If we let the government shut down, the GOP and especially the conservatives will get politically vaporized and Obama will effectively be King, with the media singing his praises and the mob calling for conservative scalps.